Work Set to Begin on Downtown’s Newest Apartment Complex

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from its original version to correct an error. Don’t Do It Empire was incorrectly listed as the owner of the bar space undergoing renovation at 112 Fayetteville. That space is owned by Tenntex.

Two score and 13 weeks ago, JDavis Architects brought forth upon this city preliminary site plans for the Lincoln Apartments, dedicated to the proposition that downtown Raleigh requires an ever-growing number of outsized multifamily structures.

The 227,400 square-foot, four-story complex will be home to 224 one, two and three-bedroom units and sit atop the now-empty lot situated between East Hargett and East Martin Street on the outer edge of what is traditionally thought of as the city’s downtown. The project, just east of Moore Square, will also be accompanied by a five-story, 100,121 square-foot parking deck, because if there’s one thing Raleigh’s short on, it’s parking decks.

James Borden / Raleigh Public Record

In addition to the garage, amenities at the complex will include an interior courtyard with a pool for its residents. During the approval process, the developers, a team headed by Banner Property Management out of Illinois, noted that the garage and courtyard would largely be screened in by the apartment’s brick exterior walls, which will enclose the lot.

Raleigh-based construction firm Clancy & Theys will oversee work on the Lincoln. The total cost will be about $22.4 million.

The Lincoln, of course, is just one of many new developments sprouting up to cater to downtown’s rapidly expanding rental market. In addition to the nearby 23-story, 230-unit SkyHouse Raleigh, now under construction on the corner of Martin and Blount streets, downtowners will also soon have the option of renting a space at Devon 425, an 8-story, 261-unit mixed-used building currently being built at the southwest corner of North Boylan and Tucker Street.

Happening Now-ish
Fans of Raleigh’s storied architectural history need not fret over the dumpster and construction signs planted outside the renowned Lewis-Smith house at 515 North Blount Street – the house, now an office, is merely being expanded, not torn down as many Blount Street homes were in the 1960s.

Relocated in 1974 from its original site at 515 North Wilmington, where it once had an entire city block of lawns and gardens, the house was renovated in 2011 and turned into the sales office for the Blount Street Commons development. The current $700,000 expansion will allow for more workspace in a structure that predates the current governor’s mansion – completed in 1891 – by nearly four decades.

James Borden / Raleigh Public Record

In another example of creative re-purposing, an 834 square-foot former tire service station – and before that, a small grocery store – at 3314 Poole Road is now being transformed into a daycare facility at a cost of $15,000.

If the timing works out right, parents who drop their children off at the Poole Road facility should be able to stop off for some blissful solitude at another newly renovated, slightly more adult space at 112 Fayetteville Street. The former Fayetteville Street Tavern, which itself was the former Capital Room bar, is being renovated into … another bar.

Coming Soon

Although building permits for the pawn shop replacing the former Perkins Restaurant off of Capital Boulevard were issued earlier this month, it was just this week that City Council issued the pawnbroker’s license necessary for the store, Picasso Pawn, to operate. Although there was some pushback from the North East District CAC, which was concerned the shop’s presence could lead to increased criminal activity, both the police and the city’s inspections department recommended granting the license.

In other planning business, City Council this week also authorized public hearings for two zoning cases, which came before the Planning Commission a week prior. The first was Z-5-14, which would allow for an increased storage area for Sanchez Brothers Masonry and on which the PC voted to deny recommendation. The second was Z-11-14, which would allow for the construction of a 48-unit apartment complex and on which the PC voted to recommend approval. At Councilman Crowder’s request, Z-11-14 was also put into committee for further study. Both public hearings will be held June 3.

Where the Streets All Have Names

It’s hardly noteworthy to report that neighborhoods with names like Sunnybrook Estates and Falls Village are seeing a steady influx of permits issued for new townhomes; as of late, there’s been an average of about ten or so of these residential permits issued a week. On May 13 however, a non-residential permit was issued to allow for the construction of a connecting structure for a townhome on Periwinkle Blue Lane in Northwest Raleigh’s Glenlake Gardens development. This raises an important question: Could there possibly be a worse street name in all of Wake County than Periwinkle Blue Lane?

As of May 21, 2014 the county is home to 18,789 different streets, about half of which – 9,105 – are in Raleigh. The names come in every flavor – literally. From Apple Lane in Holly Springs to Banana Key Place in Raleigh, they range from the mundane: Oak Avenue, to the bizarre: Break Dance Court, to the geographically impossible: Oceanside Lane.

Pick any general interest category and it’s a pretty good chance there’s a street name to match. Film? Moneypenny Court, Willow Springs. Television? Mayberry Place, Raleigh. Music? Strawberry Fields Court, Wake Forest. (And don’t be ridiculous, of course there’s a Penny Lane. It’s about 30 miles away in Cary.) Literature? Chaucer Place, Raleigh. Bad-assery? Mohawk Drive, Garner. History? We’ve done an entire article on the historical significance of Raleigh’s streets alone. Comics? Well, there is a Lois Lane in Wake Forest. Collegiate? Wolfpack Lane in Raleigh is just one of 17 streets that incorporated “wolf” into its name. And lest UNC fans feel left out, there are four that use Tarheel in the title.

So, are any of these near-20,000 names worse than Periwinkle Blue? No. They aren’t. The only real contender is an avenue that happens to share a name with one of this reporter’s ex-girlfriends, but the purpose of this column is not for the airing of petty personal grievances. Clearly.